diff --git a/cmd/release/release.go b/cmd/release/release.go
index 3a4194d..50057f0 100644
--- a/cmd/release/release.go
+++ b/cmd/release/release.go
@@ -523,14 +523,6 @@
 	if err := client.RemoveAll(ctx, b.toolDir()+"/api"); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	// The oldlink tool is used for debugging differences during
-	// testing of the linker rewrite, and can be built by users
-	// if necessary. See issue 39509.
-	// This can be removed when oldlink is gone, likely once Go 1.16
-	// is no longer supported.
-	if err := client.RemoveAll(ctx, b.toolDir()+"/oldlink"); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
 	// Remove go/pkg/${GOOS}_${GOARCH}/cmd. This saves a bunch of
 	// space, and users don't typically rebuild cmd/compile,
 	// cmd/link, etc. If they want to, they still can, but they'll